Fragment ebooka The Lost Princess of Oz - Lyman Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856–May 6, 1919) was an American
author, actor, and independent filmmaker best known as the creator,
along with illustrator W. W. Denslow, of one of the most popular
books ever written in American children's literature, The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz, better known today as simply The Wizard of Oz. He
wrote thirteen sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and a plethora
of other works, and made numerous attempts to bring his works to
the stage and screen. Source: Wikipedia

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This Book is Dedicated To My Granddaughter OZMA BAUM

Part 1
To My Readers

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful
imaginations. This pleases me. Imagination has brought mankind
through the Dark Ages to its present state of civilization.
Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led
Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the
steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the
automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they
became realities. So I believe that dreams — day dreams, you know,
with your eyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing — are
likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative
child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create,
to invent, and therefore to foster civilization. A prominent
educator tells me that fairy tales are of untold value in
developing imagination in the young. I believe it.

Among the letters I receive from children are many containing
suggestions of "what to write about in the next Oz Book." Some of
the ideas advanced are mighty interesting, while others are too
extravagant to be seriously considered — even in a fairy tale. Yet
I like them all, and I must admit that the main idea in "The Lost
Princess of Oz" was suggested to me by a sweet little girl of
eleven who called to see me and to talk about the Land of Oz. Said
she: "I s'pose if Ozma ever got lost, or stolen, ev'rybody in Oz
would be dreadful sorry."

That was all, but quite enough foundation to build this present
story on. If you happen to like the story, give credit to my little
friend's clever hint.

L. Frank Baum Royal Historian of Oz

Part 2
The Lost Princess of Oz

Chapter1 A
Terrible Loss

There could be no doubt of the fact: Princess Ozma, the lovely
girl ruler of the Fairyland of Oz, was lost. She had completely
disappeared.Not one of her subjects—not even her closest
friends—knew what had become of her. It was Dorothy who first
discovered it. Dorothy was a little Kansas girl who had come to the
Land of Oz to live and had been given a delightful suite of rooms
in Ozma's royal palace just because Ozma loved Dorothy and wanted
her to live as near her as possible so the two girls might be much
together.

Dorothy was not the only girl from the outside world who had
been welcomed to Oz and lived in the royal palace. There was
another named Betsy Bobbin, whose adventures had led her to seek
refuge with Ozma, and still another named Trot, who had been
invited, together with her faithful companion Cap'n Bill, to make
her home in this wonderful fairyland. The three girls all had rooms
in the palace and were great chums; but Dorothy was the dearest
friend of their gracious Ruler and only she at any hour dared to
seek Ozma in her royal apartments. For Dorothy had lived in Oz much
longer than the other girls and had been made a Princess of the
realm.

Betsy was a year older than Dorothy and Trot was a year younger,
yet the three were near enough of an age to become great playmates
and to have nice times together. It was while the three were
talking together one morning in Dorothy's room that Betsy proposed
they make a journey into the Munchkin Country, which was one of the
four great countries of the Land of Oz ruled by Ozma. "I've never
been there yet," said Betsy Bobbin, "but the Scarecrow once told me
it is the prettiest country in all Oz."

"I'd like to go, too," added Trot.

"All right," said Dorothy. "I'll go and ask Ozma. Perhaps she
will let us take the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be
much nicer for us than having to walk all the way. This Land of Oz
is a pretty big place when you get to all the edges of it."

So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid palace
until she came to the royal suite, which filled all the front of
the second floor. In a little waiting room sat Ozma's maid, Jellia
Jamb, who was busily sewing. "Is Ozma up yet?" inquired
Dorothy.

"I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia. "I haven't heard a word
from her this morning. She hasn't even called for her bath or her
breakfast, and it is far past her usual time for them."

"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.

"Yes," agreed the maid, "but of course no harm could have
happened to her. No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz, and
Ozma is herself a powerful fairy, and she has no enemies so far as
we know. Therefore I am not at all worried about her, though I must
admit her silence is unusual."

"Perhaps," said Dorothy thoughtfully, "she has overslept. Or she
may be reading or working out some new sort of magic to do good to
her people."

"Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I
haven't dared disturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a
privileged character, Princess, and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't
mind at all if you went in to see her."

"Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer
chamber, she went in. All was still here. She walked into another
room, which was Ozma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy
drapery richly broidered with threads of pure gold, the girl
entered the sleeping-room of the fairy Ruler of Oz. The bed of
ivory and gold was vacant; the room was vacant; not a trace of Ozma
was to be found. Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that
anything had happened to her friend, Dorothy returned through the
boudoir to the other rooms of the suite. the bath, the wardrobe,
and even into the great throne room, which adjoined the royal
suite, but in none of these places could she find Ozma.

So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid,
Jellia Jamb, and said, "She isn't in her rooms now, so she must
have gone out."

"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing
her," replied Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible."

"She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy.

"Then let us go find her," suggested the maid, who appeared to
be a little uneasy. So they went into the corridors, and there
Dorothy almost stumbled over a queer girl who was dancing lightly
along the passage.

"Stop a minute, Scraps!" she called, "Have you seen Ozma this
morning?"

"Not I!" replied the queer girl, dancing nearer."I lost both my
eyes in a tussle with the Woozy last night, for the creature
scraped 'em both off my face with his square paws. So I put the
eyes in my pocket, and this morning Button-Bright led me to Aunt
Em, who sewed 'em on again. So I've seen nothing at all today,
except during the last five minutes. So of course I haven't seen
Ozma."

"Very well, Scraps," said Dorothy, looking curiously at the
eyes, which were merely two round, black buttons sewed upon the
girl's face.

There were other things about Scraps that would have seemed
curious to one seeing her for the first time. She was commonly
called "the Patchwork Girl" because her body and limbs were made
from a gay-colored patchwork quilt which had been cut into shape
and stuffed with cotton. Her head was a round ball stuffed in the
same manner and fastened to her shoulders. For hair, she had a mass
of brown yarn, and to make a nose for her a part of the cloth had
been pulled out into the shape of a knob and tied with a string to
hold it in place. Her mouth had been carefully made by cutting a
slit in the proper place and lining it with red silk, adding two
rows of pearls for teeth and a bit of red flannel for a tongue.

In spite of this queer make-up, the Patchwork Girl was magically
alive and had proved herself not the least jolly and agreeable of
the many quaint characters who inhabit the astonishing Fairyland of
Oz. Indeed, Scraps was a general favorite, although she was rather
flighty and erratic and did and said many things that surprised her
friends. She was seldom still, but loved to dance, to turn
handsprings and somersaults, to climb trees and to indulge in many
other active sports.

"I'm going to search for Ozma," remarked Dorothy, "for she isn't
in her rooms, and I want to ask her a question."

"I'll go with you," said Scraps, "for my eyes are brighter than
yours, and they can see farther."

"I'm not sure of that," returned Dorothy. "But come along, if
you like."

Together they searched all through the great palace and even to
the farthest limits of the palace grounds, which were quite
extensive, but nowhere could they find a trace of Ozma. When
Dorothy returned to where Betsy and Trot awaited her, the little
girl's face was rather solemn and troubled, for never before had
Ozma gone away without telling her friends where she was going, or
without an escort that befitted her royal state. She was gone,
however, and none had seen her go. Dorothy had met and questioned
the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Cap'n Bill,
and even the wise and powerful Wizard of Oz, but not one of them
had seen Ozma since she parted with her friends the evening before
and had gone to her own rooms.

"No, and that's the strange part of it," replied Dorothy.
"Usually Ozma lets us know of everything she does."

"Why not look in the Magic Picture?" suggested Betsy Bobbin.
"That will tell us where she is in just one second."

"Of course!" cried Dorothy. "Why didn't I think of that before?"
And at once the three girls hurried away to Ozma's boudoir, where
the Magic Picture always hung. This wonderful Magic Picture was one
of the royal Ozma's greatest treasures. There was a large gold
frame in the center of which was a bluish-gray canvas on which
various scenes constantly appeared and disappeared. If one who
stood before it wished to see what any person anywhere in the world
was doing, it was only necessary to make the wish and the scene in
the Magic Picture would shift to the scene where that person was
and show exactly what he or she was then engaged in doing. So the
girls knew it would be easy for them to wish to see Ozma, and from
the picture they could quickly learn where she was.

Dorothy advanced to the place where the picture was usually
protected by thick satin curtains and pulled the draperies aside.
Then she stared in amazement, while her two friends uttered
exclamations of disappointment.

The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall
behind the curtains showed where it had formerly hung.

Chapter2
The Troubles of Glinda the Good

That same morning there was great excitement in the castle of
the powerful Sorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good. This castle,
situated in the Quadling Country, far south of the Emerald City
where Ozma ruled, was a splendid structure of exquisite marbles and
silver grilles. Here the Sorceress lived, surrounded by a bevy of
the most beautiful maidens of Oz, gathered from all the four
countries of that fairyland as well as from the magnificent Emerald
City itself, which stood in the place where the four countries
cornered. It was considered a great honor to be allowed to serve
the good Sorceress, whose arts of magic were used only to benefit
the Oz people. Glinda was Ozma's most valued servant, for her
knowledge of sorcery was wonderful, and she could accomplish almost
anything that her mistress, the lovely girl Ruler of Oz, wished her
to.

Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her castle,
there was none more marvelous than her Great Book of Records. On
the pages of this Record Book were constantly being inscribed, day
by day and hour by hour, all the important events that happened
anywhere in the known world, and they were inscribed in the book at
exactly the moment the events happened. Every adventure in the Land
of Oz and in the big outside world, and even in places that you and
I have never heard of, were recorded accurately in the Great Book,
which never made a mistake and stated only the exact truth. For
that reason, nothing could be concealed from Glinda the Good, who
had only to look at the pages of the Great Book of Records to know
everything that had taken place. That was one reason she was such a
great Sorceress, for the records made her wiser than any other
living person.

This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood
in the middle of Glinda's drawing room. The legs of the table,
which were incrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to
the tiled floor, and the book itself was chained to the table and
locked with six stout golden padlocks, the keys to which Glinda
carried on a chain that was secured around her own neck. The pages
of the Great Book were larger in size than those of an American
newspaper, and although they were exceedingly thin, there were so
many of them that they made an enormous, bulky volume. With its
gold cover and gold clasps, the book was so heavy that three men
could scarcely have lifted it. Yet this morning when Glinda entered
her drawing room after breakfast, the good Sorceress was amazed to
discover that her Great Book of Records had mysteriously
disappeared.

Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with
some sharp instrument, and this must have been done while all in
the castle slept. Glinda was shocked and grieved. Who could have
done this wicked, bold thing? And who could wish to deprive her of
her Great Book of Records?

The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the
consequences of her loss. Then she went to her Room of Magic to
prepare a charm that would tell her who had stolen the Record Book.
But when she unlocked her cupboard and threw open the doors, all of
her magical instruments and rare chemical compounds had been
removed from the shelves. The Sorceress has now both angry and
alarmed. She sat down in a chair and tried to think how this
extraordinary robbery could have taken place. It was evident that
the thief was some person of very great power, or the theft could
not have been accomplished without her knowledge. But who, in all
the Land of Oz, was powerful and skillful enough to do this awful
thing? And who, having the power, could also have an object in
defying the wisest and most talented Sorceress the world has ever
known?

Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at
the end of which time she was still puzzled how to explain it. But
although her instruments and chemicals were gone, her KNOWLEDGE of
magic had not been stolen, by any means, since no thief, however
skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is
the best and safest treasure to acquire. Glinda believed that when
she had time to gather more magical herbs and elixirs and to
manufacture more magical instruments, she would be able to discover
who the robber was and what had become of her precious Book of
Records.

"Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is a very
foolish person, for in time he is sure to be found out and will
then be severely punished."

She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched
messengers to every part of Oz with instructions to obtain them and
bring them to her as soon as possible. And one of her messengers
met the little Wizard of Oz, who was seated on the back of the
famous live Sawhorse and was clinging to its neck with both his
arms, for the Sawhorse was speeding to Glinda's castle with the
velocity of the wind, bearing the news that Royal Ozma, Ruler of
all the great Land of Oz, had suddenly disappeared and no one in
the Emerald City knew what had become of her.

"Also," said the Wizard as he stood before the astonished
Sorceress, "Ozma's Magic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it
to discover where she is. So I came to you for assistance as soon
as we realized our loss. Let us look in the Great Book of
Records."

"Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do that,
for the Great Book of Records has also disappeared!"